The Note

W A S H I N G T O N August 20

Page 4 of 4

They preview a Davis cocktail party scheduled for Thursday that's designed to be the Northern California kickoff for the governor's bid. Admission price: $50,000 for an event "host," with five private pre-bash tickets; $25,000 for a "sponsor," with five regular tickets and a mention in the program; and $1,000 for a regular ticket. Meanwhile, Bustamante's campaign is limited to $21,500 per donor.

California recall, Arnold:
Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to have his first real go 'round with the political press today after his economic summit, where economic advisers Warren Buffett and George Shultz will begin working on his plan for the state's budget and economy. The campaign assured ABC News' Schifrin that Schwarzenegger would answer all questions at the Post -meeting Q&A with reporters, but prefers to keep the questions focused on the economic event.

One of his plans, Rep. David Drier told the Washington Times ' Ralph Hallow, is to repeal Davis' car tax and cast himself as a tax cutter, more in line with conservatives who might support him. LINK

"He is going to be strongly conservative, clearly demonstrate that he is his own man and stand up to Warren Buffett," said Mr. Dreier, referring to the liberal Democratic billionaire who is a personal friend and top economic adviser to Mr. Schwarzenegger's campaign.

The New York Times ' Charlie LeDuff writes up Schwarzenegger's inaugural campaign ad and reports, "with no specifics, there is little to judge."
LINK

The San Francisco Chronicle's George Raine reports much the same and also gets some reaction from advertising pros. LINK

Raine also spends some time truth squadding Bill Simon's radio ad. LINK

Jacob Schlesinger writes in the Wall Street Journal that George Shultz is once again "attempting to throw his cloak of respectability around" a political candidate who may be perceived as a policy lightweight. The former Secretary of State helped beef up the credentials of Ronald Reagan for his 1980 run for the White House and did much the same for George W. Bush in advance of his 2000 campaign.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Rush Limbaugh calls California "a liberal proving-ground run amok" and says Schwarzenegger is no Ronald Reagan. He laments what he sees as an attitude by conservatives that California is so messed up that it can't be fixed with conservative principles — so they turned to Schwarzenegger.

"Their thinking has led them to support Arnold Schwarzenegger, who, to my knowledge, has yet to embrace any conservative positions, though he has embraced Warren Buffett. Hasta la vista, whatever."

The Los Angeles Times Joe Matthews reports Schwarzenegger may need to step up his outreach efforts to California Republicans. LINK

"Two weeks into the campaign, curiosity about Schwarzenegger in core GOP circles is slowly yielding to frustration — even among potential supporters — with a movie star who has thus far been unwilling to stray far from Hollywood."

Claudia Eller writes in the Los Angeles Times that Schwarzenegger is looking to put Hollywood agents at CAA to work on his campaign. LINK

California recall, the chaos and the courts:
Bob Egelko and Zachary Coilie of the San Francisco Chronicle do a tremendous job of explaining what recall matters remain pending before federal judges and the Justice Department. LINK

Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters is expecting turnout for the October 7 recall election to be of presidential proportions. LINK